Suit Charges Parents With Abuse, Neglect

Becky Cookston Accuses Her Father Of Abusing Her While Her Mother Did Nothing To Protect Her.

June 8, 1994|By Lesley Clark of The Sentinel Staff

TAVARES — A woman whose father is serving time for sexually assaulting her when she was a child filed suit against her parents Tuesday, accusing them of years of abuse and neglect. In the suit, Becky Cookston, now 27, accuses her father of sexually and physically abusing her while her mother did nothing to protect her.

James Cookston was sentenced in December to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years' probation after pleading no contest to assaulting Becky Cookston and, more recently, her daughter.

Becky Cookston is using her childhood names in both this suit and a prior one against a state agency, though that no longer is the name she uses in real life.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday seeks more than $15,000 in damages and alleges that James Cookston abused her for most of her childhood while her mother neglected her. Becky ''feels this is the final thing that will help her in her quest to rid herself of the horrors of the past,'' said her attorney, Jerri Blair of Tavares.

Cookston also plans to resubmit her suit against the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. That suit, which was dismissed last month by state Circuit Judge G. Richard Singeltary of Tavares, accuses the child welfare agency of negligence in repeatedly returning Cookston and her siblings to their abusive father.

In his ruling, Singeltary agreed with HRS that the wording of the suit couldn't stand up in court because Cookston waited too long to file it. Florida law says civil lawsuits like hers must be filed within four years.

However, Blair said the amended lawsuit will say Cookston couldn't have filed the lawsuit within that time period because she was a child and had no legal right to do so. It also will say that Cookston blocked out the memories of the abuse and didn't remember it until recently.

In Tuesday's suit against her parents, Cookston accuses her father of repeatedly abusing her and forcing her to engage in sexual acts with other men before she was age 12.

The suit alleges that her mother, Brenda, should have known of the ongoing abuse and had a duty to prevent it.